The Only Fair Solution

Today is the last great day, the eighth day of the feast. I've titled my sermon, The Only Fair Solution. So many things have gone wrong in this world for so many people for 6,000 years now that it's hard to imagine what is yet in store. Most of the world doesn't know. In the late 1920s, a little girl named Ida Jean Haunt was born in the hills of West Virginia, way back in the Hollers.

Very much a country girl. She was the last of five children born to her mother, Stella Dell. It wasn't fair that she would never see her father, but life would get even more difficult for her and her mother. You see, her mother was born in the late 1890s, and she, as a young woman, fell in love with a young man right before the World War I. And he went off to the war and died. Unfortunately, she was pregnant, and so she had a son. That son would never see his father as well.

Then she fell in love and married another man, Tuskee Hot. A good man willing to take on the responsibility of her and her son, and together they had four more children. They had a daughter, a son, a daughter, and finally little Ida Jean. Life seemed fine, except Ida Jean's father took ill while she was pregnant. The mother was pregnant and died two months before she was born, so she never ever got to see her father.

That's not untrue of a number of people that had those kind of situations. That left Stella Dell with five children and very little money. Why? Certainly didn't seem fair, but that's what would happen then. She had to survive, and she made a deal with a man who came, wanted to marry her, but he had been married before and his wife had died.

And he was fairly wealthy. He was a surveyor and a lawyer, and he agreed to take care of her and her children, but he didn't want her children being raised with his three children that he already had from his marriage. So he relegated little Ida Jean and her four siblings to the grandparents about two miles down the road. He would supply certain needs for them and things, but yet they wouldn't be raised with his children.

But deals were made back in those days for survival and various things. Of course, the depression was coming on. There's so many things that have happened in the past. At times, they would get together with their step-brothers and sisters, usually picnics and things, and when they did, they would get to eat and the food would be good, except they knew their place. Like when the watermelon was cut, his children would get the center and they would get the rinds and the seeds.

They got hand-me-down clothes occasionally and various things along those lines. A little Lyda Jean, with them and with her siblings, never got any new clothes. She only got hand-me-downs. She didn't know what it would be like to have something new for herself, and it certainly didn't seem fair. It did create a great desire for fairness in her life, in her mind, and she would never do those type of things if she could to anyone else if she had the chance. But little Lyda Jean was cute. She blossomed into a young woman in high school.

The star football player fell in love with her. Chuck Lettered in basketball, football, baseball, track, everything basically. Got a scholarship from Morgantown University to play basketball and baseball and football. And then he was offered a job to play with the Lakers, at that time the Minneapolis Lakers. Quite athlete, star performer, going places, but he didn't take the job playing basketball because there wasn't much money in it back in the 50s.

And so he took a job with Link Belt Construction. He married little Lyda Jean, and he made good money with Link Belt. And so little Lyda Jean now was able to have some new clothes. They had a car, and as he moved around the country building bridges and roads and things, she was happy. They had a son shortly after they were married, and a couple years later another son. And life seemed good. Chuck was promoted to be a supervisor. And one day, Lyda Jean heard a man on radio.

This man was reading the Bible. She had never had a Bible growing up, but she had gotten one at her wedding.

It says she read along, and she became convinced that what this man was saying was correct. It annoyed her husband a bit because he let her have her religion if she wanted it, but yet he didn't want any part of it. He had to work on the Saturdays and didn't fit into his schedule. He loved sports and different things that he wanted. She began to read and read and read and study. One day when Chuck was at work, he suffered a stroke, a major stroke, probably from all the injuries he had playing football and basketball and baseball, which is what happens when you get hit a lot with the old leather helmets they had that didn't protect very much. And he was supposed to die. But Lyda Jean, she believed in healing. She'd heard about it, and she said, he's going to be healed. She prayed. She passed off her two little boys to her mother, Stella Dell, and she sat in the hospital with her husband, knowing God would heal him. Her husband had four brothers and a sister and his parents, and they ridiculed Lyda Jean because they believed what the doctor said, that he was going to die. What are you doing? He's basically a vegetable right now. And how can you believe this crazy religion and stuff? Besides, they didn't like her too much because they didn't like that their star son had married this poor little girl. And so it wasn't really what they had in mind for their star son. But to everyone's surprise, he got better. He was healed. He went back to work.

Lyda Jean's faith was incredibly strengthened from that. God was great. This was fair. This was good. Two years later, Chuck was killed in a construction accident. And he died. Now they had a trial because they thought it might be a murder. He was actually smashed between a wall by a runaway crane, you know, a ball and crane that goes three miles an hour under full steam. They could never prove it was a murder.

It wouldn't change anything anyway. He was dead. But so she was left with her two little boys. And she thought maybe he'd be resurrected. She had read in 1st Kings 17 the story of the widow woman and her son, and how the widow woman, you know, had come there. And Aije had come to her house and said, you know, feed me.

And she said, all I have is this little cornmeal, a little bit of oil. And then we're gonna eat it and die. It was a great famine. And Aije said, no, it's not gonna happen. Just give me some and it won't fail. You'll have food. And it did. It worked. And they survived. But 1st Kings 17, verse 17, right at the same woman, sometime later it says her son took ill and died. And what was her thought? Aije, she comes to him, verse 18 of 1st Kings 17.

I'll read the story to you. You don't need to turn to it. She said to Aije, what have I to do with you, O you men of God? Are you coming to me to call to sin my remembrance and to slay my son? Why did you feed us and keep us alive if you're just gonna kill my son? That was what she thought. Aije, of course, had given me her son and he prayed over her and the son came back to life. My mother thought maybe Chuck could come back to life. She prayed and prayed that she identified with this widow.

She prayed for God to resurrect him. But it didn't happen. Sadly, his side of the family still mocked her because of what she believed, what she did. She wondered why did God heal him just to take him away a couple years later. It doesn't make sense. It certainly didn't seem fair. The young minister from this radio church came to perform the funeral.

When he did, he told her, he says, you know, you're a widow now with two children. You need to be somewhere where you can be helped. So she got moved to Big Sandy, Texas, where the widows were. It was comforting knowing that she had had some people to help her. Her sons could attend the church school. They could learn about God and there'd be people to help her. Indeed, she lived there for four years. Certainly, you've guessed by now that the little light of June was my mother. Chuck was my father. We were in Texas for four years and my mom decided to move to Pasadena, California.

The country girl who lived way up in the hollers of West Virginia, going to the big city. Never really understood why it's a child. Except for the fact that, thinking about it, I think she knew that we probably needed a father and, you know, when you send a whole bunch of widows to a small town in Big Sandy, there's not gonna be a lot of fathers around.

So she moved to Pasadena and there she met a man. My stepfather married him. I was about eight years old and he was good to us. He taught us a lot. But as a little child, my father died. My mom knew the Bible and she said, my father be resurrected. And of course, as a little kid, I didn't really understand the timing and how this all worked. But when she would say, your father's gonna be resurrected, I hope, when? When daddy? When's daddy come back? And as I got older, I come to realize that I was gonna be a lot older than he was when he came back.

And I was still thinking that he had to get a chance to play with him. I have a few, I was only three and a half when he died, so I have a few visual images of him, but not much more than that. The resurrection was comforting to me to think he'd come back. I'd get to see him and play with him. Of course, now I'm 40 years older or more than he was when he died. But those are things that you wonder. Today, picture is a time when all people will come back. A time when God's intervention for all mankind takes place.

Isaiah 9, verse 6 and 7 talks about what's going to happen when Christ returns. How many things that happen in our lives don't seem fair. God does things and doesn't do things for His purpose, and His purpose is greater than our purpose. When my father was healed, it gave my mom great strength. When he died, it took us a direction that we'd have never gone had he lived. For unto us a child is born, a son is given, and the government shall be on his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He wasn't called that when he came the first time. Of the increase of his government and his peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, upon the kingdom, to order it, to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even forever. That's the millennium we just celebrated in this day, and the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Judgment and justice forever. Righteous judgment, total fairness. What that's done, and this is now. Now things don't seem fair. Indeed, in this world, from the human standpoint, it's not fair. We don't always see it because we don't see God's complete purpose. I was always puzzled by some of the things in the Bible because I see fairness the way most humans see fairness. I always wondered with Abraham's story in Genesis 20, where Abraham tells a lie, half-life, because his wife was his half-sister. She's my sister, so Abimelech takes her and puts him in her harem. And God goes in a dream to Abimelech and says, Bimelech, you're gonna die because you've taken a man's life. Of course, Abimelech says, but in my innocence, he said he was his sister. I didn't know. And in the integrity of my heart, I did this. And God says, yes, I know in the integrity of your heart you did this, but you go pray to this man who lied to you and put you in this position, and you have him ask forgiveness for you so I don't kill you. That didn't seem fair to me, just like a lot of things don't seem fair. But indeed, I think God wanted Abimelech to know who Abraham was and to leave him alone so he could fulfill his purpose and his promise. Abraham had faith, the father of the faithful, but yet at that point he didn't have enough faith to think he wouldn't be killed because of his wife's beauty. Now, I said none of us are that pretty at age 90. I'm not sure what kind of genetics she had, but certainly pretty good to have guys wanting her up to 90 years old. But God in Isaiah 55 says, My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. My ways are far higher than your ways, and our thoughts higher than our thoughts. We don't always see God's timing. Remember the man that was healed by Peter at the gate? It's kind of brought on right after Day of Pentecost? A special time in Acts. We read that story, and I was reading it once a couple decades ago, and I thought about something that kind of hit me. It was peculiar. In Acts chapter 3, Peter and John, of course, are going to the temple in verse 1. And so the certain man who was lame from his mother's womb was being carried. And they had laid him daily at the temple gate, which is called beautiful, to ask alms for those who entered into the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go in the temple, he asked to receive alms.

Fasting his eyes on him, Peter and John said, look on us! And he paid heed to them. He said, hey, I got my hand off. Hey, look at me. Hey, I'm going to get some money. That's what you'd expect from that. And that's not what they have. Peter says, silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. He lifted him up, immediately his feet and bones and ankles received strength. He stood and walked and entered the temple and all the people saw him walking and praising God. They recognized him. It was him who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple. They were filled with wonder and amazement. What had happened to him? As the lame one who was healed held Peter and John. All the people ran together in the porch that is called Solomon's greatly wondering. And seeing this, Peter answered and said, men, Israelites, why do you marvel at this? Or why do you stare at us as if we had made this man to walk by our power or our holiness? We're just like you. The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his Son Jesus, whom you delivered up, denying him in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to let him go. But you denied that. The holy one, the just one, desired a murderer be given to you instead. What a sermon! What a witness those people! But why do I bring this example up? Verse 2, they laid him daily at the temple gate, which is called Beautiful. He had been there daily, and when they called his parents, he had been there 40 years. 40 years at the gate, lame. Who went into the temple for three and a half years and walked by this man and never healed him? Jesus Christ. This man was lame for 40 years, lame during the three and a half years of Christ's ministry, so that God can make a miracle that no one could deny he had been there too long. They couldn't deny what was being done right there. God had a plan. Wouldn't seem fair to be lame for 40 years. I mean, he lived the rest of his life. I'm lame. That was good, but what? 10, 20, 30 years maybe? He didn't live that long back then. It was special, a special thing that God was doing, and God knew what he had in mind for this. Of course, Acts 4, they can't deny the miracle. They said, what should we do to these men? They beat them, and they said, we can only say what we've heard and seen. Each of us, with what we learn and what we've heard and what we've seen, are required to do the same thing, to witness in the right way, not in people's faces, but when opportunity allows, when something special happens, some miracle or some reason people ask you, why do you do this? My neighbor said, why do you go to church on the Sabbath? Open door. We should always be ready to give an answer for the things that God has revealed to us.

I've done some of my best discussion in planes and buses and trains sitting next to people, whether they be Christians or atheists or Muslims, and I'm very open with them. I don't challenge them necessarily, but I question them. I say what I say with authority, because it is the truth. Christ saw things in the tall disciples that other people wouldn't see. Things that he could use.

We only know the occupations of some of the disciples. We know that Simon Peter, Andrew James, and John, the son of Zebedee, were fishermen. Matthew was a tax collector. We know Simon was known as the zealot, whatever he was doing. We know that fishing takes patience, long days and nights, and increment weather. Matthew was a tax collector, I'm sure a new ridicule, which he would face when he tried to preach the truth. He was probably fair as a tax collector, but he should still be hated. Nobody likes the revenuers. Paul was a Pharisee, a stickler for the law, to the point of killing Christians.

Very zealous that he was just as much a stickler when he was converted for Christ and for the truth. Indeed, gave us a lot of information that we get to read in our Bibles. God called you now because he saw something in you that he can use now and in the future. We don't always know what that is or why that is, and everything he puts you through is for his purpose. Whatever it is, blessings, trials, health issues, it's a purpose.

We don't always know what that is. I often tell people, why do you complain at how God's trying to mold you, trying to teach you something? You can either learn from it or you can get angry about it. The world constantly asks, why did little Johnny die? Why does God allow the suffering? I've talked to so many people that, oh, I love that Jesus in the New Testament is so loving, but that God of the Old Testament is so mean, killing people and stuff, and they don't realize it was the same God.

But it doesn't seem fair in the same way that we look at fair. And people that define love differently than God defines love. And God's plan is far above what we understand. That plan, the promises, like Psalms 146.6, where God says that the Lord preserves the strangers, relieves the fatherless and the widows, my mother hung her hat on that promise.

After my father died, she knew she wasn't alone. She knew there'd be a resurrection. She would see her husband again someday, although he wouldn't be her husband. But she'd have to worry about heaven and hell, which when she went to church as a little girl without her Bible, the minister would always try to preach into heaven, scary and out of hell.

She didn't worry about that anymore. She knew that was true. It was a plan that I was taught from my earliest memories. Again, being told my father be resurrected. My mom would read the chapter in Ezekiel 36 or 37. I turned there. One of the famous chapters became a song, them bones, them bones, them dry bones, ankle bone connected to the leg bone, leg bone connected to the knee bone. All those things. Ezekiel 37 verse 1, The hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down the midst of a valley full of dry bones.

And he called me to pass by them round about and behold there were very, very many in the valley and lo they were very dry. And he said to me, Son of Man, can these bones live? And best answer you can give to God when he answers your questions is, Oh God, you know. You know. I don't. That's most of the questions I have. I don't know, but God does.

Good answer to give. He has him prophesy on these bones. And he does. He says, verse 7, he says, So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied there was noise, and behold the shaking, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I beheld lo, the sinew, and the flesh came on them, and the skin covered them. And there was no breath in them.

And he said, prophesy to the wind, prophesy, Son of Man, say to the wind, Thus says the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So he did. He prophesied on them. And he said to me in verse 11, These bones of the whole house of Israel, behold, they say our bones are dried, our hope is lost, were cut off for our parts. I feel sorry for people who do not believe in God at all. Thus says the Lord God, verse 12, O my people, I will open your graves. I will cause you to come up out of your graves. I will bring you unto the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you out of your graves.

And shall put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land, and you shall know that I am the Lord, have spoken it and performed it. Those people haven't been resurrected yet. They're not in heaven. They're not in hell. They're asleep in their graves. I knew these stories. Like I said, I expected it really soon.

Didn't really understand until I grew older and older, and realized the timing was so different.

I learned early that the death was not permanent. The death of a saint, a true Christian, was only asleep to wake up when Christ returned.

As a little child, it made me wonder why people are sad at funerals. When you know the truth as a little kid, they're going to come back, and hey, everything's going to be fine. But being older, I understand those sadness a little better, the losses. But I faced that question that most children didn't face. But I had answers that most people did not have and cannot give to their children. We stayed in Big Sandy for four years, like I said, and then moved to Pasadena. Big Sandy, my mom, was pretty poor. I had a fishing pole. It was a willow stick with a kite straying and a safety pin. You can actually catch bluegill off that. It's a four or five-year-old. It's pretty exciting.

I didn't know what I didn't have. My stepfather taught me a lot. I didn't understand the responsibility he was taking out at the time he married my mom. I knew he didn't know us anything.

But I get to respect him. He trained us. He had Bible studies at 5.30 and 6 o'clock in the morning with us. He was irritating because it was very early for a little boy. My father got irritated with me, too, because I would lay there with my head. My Bible was asleep most of the time.

My brother and my mother would try to stay awake and listen. What annoyed my father wasn't so much that I slept during the studies was every Friday he gave a test on what he had given that week.

I knew all the answers, and my brother and my mother didn't.

Which was a good thing. I learned to listen in my sleep, which came in very handy with Mr. Armstrong, because I didn't get a whole lot of sleep on the regular hours during those years.

But it was special. And so I grew up learning the Bible, going to the feast, hearing the plan of God over and over and over, which was a wonderful plan.

When I think back with what I've had to do in my life, my father hadn't died. I'd have probably been into sports. I love sports. I was good at sports.

He'd have never kept a Sabbath, and I'd have never kept a Sabbath.

God has something else in mind. You never know what that is. Had I not gone to Big Sand, I wouldn't have known all the people that were the leaders in the community there.

Had I not gone to Pasadena, I wouldn't have known all the leaders at headquarters.

And going to Imperial schools, I actually went to school with the children of the men I would later work with. I was 20 or 30 years younger than virtually everybody I worked with. 60 years younger than Mr. Armstrong. And when I got the job working with him, I needed to know all these people. Because every time he wanted something, I was the one that had to find who, where, what, and when. And knowing the history of the church and these people made it much easier for me. We don't know what God's use for us is in all regards. And I've always looked at it.

One thing I've always been... enjoyed the story of Joshua and Caleb and what I've found in the church is too many people want to be Joshua. I like being Caleb. You do your job, you're blessed for it, and then you back off. And that's what I look at. Everything in my life I say, okay, it's an assignment, you do it, you do it well, and you back off. If you get another assignment, you do that. Again, before we understood God's plan, I doubt any of us knew what God expected from us. We can each tell our own stories, and we do. I love hearing the stories that many of you hear. Most of the stories are difficult stories. People you didn't know, fathers you didn't know, mothers, people that got sick. Most of our stories have trauma in them. Most of the time we don't get to see the end of the story. I've got to see pieces of mine because of the functions I've had to do, but I don't know that much. Turn to Acts 9. We have the story of Ananias and Paul's conversion.

We each have that story of how God worked in our lives, and it may not seem that dramatic, and we don't know what's in store for us. Only Christ knew the complete story of his role, of his life, before and after. We don't.

Acts 9, verse 10, a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias said, Lord told him, he said, Arise and go and meet, which is a street called straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, because he's praying. I think he probably thought it meant P-R-E-Y, because he was killing Christians and praying on them rather than praying to God. And he has seen the vision of a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand at him so he can receive his sight. Ananias said, Lord, I've heard from many about this man how many evil things he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. Excuse me, God, what are you doing? This is not fair. This guy is killing people. You're sending me to help him? Can we receive the prodigal son the way the father did?

Ananias had to receive Saul at this time. Verse 15, the Lord said to him, Go, for this one is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the nations and kings of the sons of Israel.

And I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

Wow! What he's going to have to suffer.

And he was chosen by God. We are all chosen vessels of God. No, we're not the Apostle Paul. We're not Peter. James was the editor at John. But we are chosen vessels nonetheless.

Vessels here shining our light in the community here at Hickory, at Sugar Creek and Walnut Creek and Timber Creek. People can see what we do. They may not understand it because they don't understand God's plan unless we do. And wherever else God has put his name around the world right now with this feast, people can be an example and teach when asked, not condemning but in a loving way. What things are ahead for you? What things are ahead for me?

We know there's a time of trouble coming, the Great Tribulation. We are so close to that now. Things are escalating rapidly. Paul knew some of the things ahead for him. He knew he would suffer. In Acts 20, verse 22, Paul says, Now, behold, I am going bound by the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall happen to me there. He'd already gone through shipwrecks and stonings and a lot of things. I always said I never wanted to be Paul's trainee. He's always getting stoned all the time.

I'd rather have been with John or Barnabas or somebody that was a little more, had a little more foresight in what was happening to them.

Verse 23, Except the Holy Spirit witness in every city, saying, The bonds and afflictions await me. But none of these things move me, neither do I count my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus Christ, who testify fully the gospel of the grace of God.

We don't know what will happen to each of us. We don't know the details that will be required of you or me. But we know our life must reflect Jesus Christ once we've made that commitment.

And that life's going to include helping others in the future when the millennium comes and when this day is fulfilled.

That's what service is. It's fair because God is offering you sonship, being his family. It's worth more than money.

It's worth more than power. It's worth more than fame.

All the things that are worth something in Satan's world, but not in God's world.

And you put your trust and confidence in God to do his will for the purposes in your life, and not your own. And you know it because this plan is fair, no matter how unfair humanly it might seem. When I taught at Ambassador College, I asked my students in business, I said, how many of you would wear a suit and tie every day to school if I promised you a quarter million dollar salary at the end of graduation? Oh yeah, count me in. How much more is God offering us if we do what he asks of us? That's the vision we have. That's what we see in God's plan.

That's why we do what we do. When I heard Mr. Armstrong talk to world leaders, that peace would come. It was special. He preached the gospel. He told them that God's going to stop the fighting. He will bring peace. The misery and the pain will end.

Justice would be administered. The whole world, every individual, would have a chance to learn and understand. Of course, they'd have to repent and believe. Indeed, he did preach the gospel in so many countries. I thought the world would end long before that because we were doing those things.

But God has led every person who he's worked with over the last two thousand years think it was going to end soon. We need to think it soon so we have the urgency that we need to keep doing it.

Many of these world leaders wished it were true. It sounded great to them.

They didn't believe it, but it didn't matter. And he told them it didn't matter whether you believed me. It's just going to happen. For the young people here, I tell you that you have a choice. I had a choice when I was young. My choice was not what is going to happen. God says, what's going to happen. My choice is, do I want to be part of it? And did I want to be part of it now?

Or did I want to be part of it in the second resurrection?

Knowing that God says the first resurrection is the better resurrection.

Many things to young people look good in this world, but they're all going to come to nothing.

Truth is the truth. God is fair. He does things that work into His plan the way He wants it to do.

Little Lita Jean chose life many, many years ago when she was barely in her 20s.

She died 10 years ago, and knowing her next breath would be to meet Jesus Christ.

She never blamed God for any of the trauma, for what she went through.

She thanked Him for the truth and wanted to be there when Christ returned. Just as Mr. Armstrong thought, he'd be there when Christ returned. It wasn't until a few months before he died when he told me, my time's not the same as God's time. I thought I'd be here. But he never said that. And the things he was told, it wasn't that he would be here until the end. He knew it'd be soon.

But just like with others in the past, God doesn't give us the timetable.

He holds that to Himself. When would be?

What we think personally is not always what God knows as best.

I could never have done my job without the years in Big Sandy, the years in Pasadena, and all the things I had to do. I still never knew what I was doing.

As a 21-year-old, I look at some of the teens that are here. Imagine yourself four or five, six years from now, setting up meetings with world leaders.

I happened to do a protocol in over 60 countries. I happened to ask God to make arrangements, because you can't just tell people what to do in their countries.

It was an unusual time. It was something I would never have expected.

It was only because of some of the things that happened in my life. The reason I got on the plane was my freshman year in college. There were two chefs in the kitchen. They came from the school of culinary arts. I didn't have to study in Ambassador College. I'd already had the Bible for 12 years. I'd had all the classes. I actually tested out the first-year Bible. They gave the final first semester, and it was take-home. Most of the kids opened Bibles 10 hours, 12 hours. I did the test an hour and 15 minutes and never wrote my Bible.

Got one of the highest grades in the class. Got a C from the professor.

I got a C because one of my friends went in, so I'm not like Aaron. He didn't study at all, and he got a good grade because I didn't put enough effort in. I got a C.

At that time, I decided I really didn't need to worry about grades so much.

I went in and asked the chefs if I could learn to cook because we did all the formal dinners. We had 15 men's nights and 15 women's nights each semester, so I lived on Chateau Brion and Flamin' Yann and crepe Suzette and Cherry's Jubilee and all that. My freshman year of college, wonderful. Much better than the line food. So I learned to cook, and then some other events happened during that time, which were unfair, some hypocritical, different things that I'd seen in my life. Not everything was always perfect, even though it was, quote-unquote, God's Church, but there are always people in God's Church that don't do the right things. But I learned to cook, and I ended up transferring to Pasadena. Mr. Armstrong needed a steward and a plane, and I didn't know that I didn't apply for the job, but on graduation day, my phone rang and I got paged. Do you know who this is? Yes, sir.

Felt like saying, you know who I am, but he had asked for me.

I knew I was in trouble. I didn't. I really was. I didn't miss to know it. But he said, I want you to fly with me. I said, okay, I'm supposed to go to Salt Lake City on Sunday.

He said, they'll understand. On Monday morning, we left.

Of course, I had gone to the dig the year before I had a passport, otherwise I couldn't have gone. You wonder how many of these little things in your life that happened, because I didn't really want to go to the dig. My parents talked me into it, and I said, okay, it should be fun. So I went. But I had a passport so I could leave on Monday morning. And I was excited. I was supposed to get married a month on July 12th, and back in New Jersey, and where on this trip was three weeks long. At least that's what they told me. Six weeks later, we're still in Paris. I had to tell Mr.

Armstrong I was supposed to get married this weekend. I flew off in Paris to get married.

Unusual. But we don't know what God has in store and why He does the thing He does.

But we're told that we should count it all joy when we have difficulties.

We can expect things to be different than we want them, because God knows what He wants for you, and for me, my loss was gain for God. As Paul said that, and you look at my life, the first seven years I flew 12 years of Mr. Armstrong, first seven my wife didn't fly. I was gone most of our marriage in the early years. Not something you get married to do.

And then when Michelle did fly, after some events happened, and she ended up on the plane, when I became his aide and vice president, she flew. And that was nice, although we never had children. We always wanted to have children. We had planned our life out before I ever got asked to fly. We were going to, a couple years later, have kids, etc., etc. And now, hey, we're not going to have kids. Mr. Armstrong always said, when are you going to have children? I said, when are you going to quit flying? He never answered me. I never answered him. My wife got pregnant the month before he died. I actually was able to tell him she was pregnant. Of course, she was told she miscarried, and I didn't tell him that because that would make him unhappy.

But either she had twins or she didn't miscarriage because we had our son eight months later, which is a blessing. God gave us something we wanted that I thought I'd never have. And that would have been fine if I hadn't from the standpoint of what God was doing.

But we learn from the things that God puts us through, and we learn to appreciate that He knows what He's doing. And some of the things may not seem pleasant and not seem fair, but God makes it all fair because He knows what you can withstand if you trust Him.

Again, the things we learn now, when we come to this day, when we read about the fact that the bones are going to come together and the resurrections. Again, why would God have you learn all these things now if there wasn't a purpose for it in the future when all these people come back? That's what this day pictures. All those people that have died coming back.

One of the men who was up in the church under Mr. Dukatche's era, making a lot of the changes, I was talking to him at one point in time, and I finally realized the way he was talking. He was giving up everything, and I said, you don't believe in resurrections anymore, do you? He said no.

The Bible is pretty clear about the resurrections. And I said, besides, it says there's only one name under heaven by which you can be saved. And so what about all those people that died before Christ even came to this earth? He said God knows how they would have reacted had they heard His name. I said, well then God knows how He'd react if I'd heard His name, and how you'd have reacted if you heard His name. Why did He have to come at all? If God knows how we would react, He wouldn't even have to come. They tried to ride away the thousand years, the millennium, and all these things. I remember one of the meetings they were trying to get rid of all these things, and they were reading the scripture about a thousand years, and somebody piped up and said, why do we have to believe that the only thing it plainly says is the one thing that can't be true?

That was kind of the way things were going at that time, which was sad.

Things are not always what we expect. Mr. Armstrong died, and we had our children end up teaching at the college. I love people. I love sharing what I've been taught with other people, giving them hope of the resurrection and salvation. That's what excites me, the creativity of finding a spot in somebody's life that's missing, where you can help them and teach them, whether they're Buddhists or Hindus, atheists, whatever, or Christians who think they're going to heaven and hell. The Apostle Paul, that was his challenge on Mars Hill, trying to talk to people. Finding a spot, you can open the door. Each of us should be practicing and learning those things.

Paul, very educated. God was able to use that. He uses each of us for whatever talents we have, and whether you're seen or unseen in what you do, it's always surprising when you find out the things that God has in store. Each of you are going through trials in life, I'm sure, different things that you have to give up. You have to know and believe there's a greater purpose for your life in God's plan to build your faith. And it's tough, and we slip and fall. I know I have, but we all do, but we get up and repent. We move on knowing that the plan that God have and the sacrifice Christ made can make us whole again. And if this were the millennium, it wouldn't be fair if it was not a millennium to come. If it was only this life, it would not be fair.

But there's more than this life.

And we know what that plan is through these feast days. The things God allows in Satan's world, if there were no hope of the resurrection, would indeed not be fair. And we've been called, while in Satan's world, not to be part of it. And we think it's unfair. It's only because we think physically and want something for ourselves. A lot of people want revenge for things that have been done to them. But God does avenge the unfairness in His time, in His place. As we had in the sermon yesterday with the prodigal son. It's in His timing and how He does it, not the way we would want it.

That's not it. Turn to Revelation 6, if you would, because God does avenge us. And He hears what happens to us. Revelation 6, verse 9, talking about the seals. He opened the fifth seal. I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, for the testimony in which they held. We're in a relative time of peace. We're not necessarily getting slain for what we believe a lot of people have been over the last 6,000 years, starting with Abel, by his brother killing him. Righteous Abel, we're told. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, Until when, master, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? The white robes were given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little time until both their fellow servants and their brothers, those that are about to be killed, probably as they were, should have their number made complete. There's a number that completes the first resurrection.

The world that you and I live in, Satan's world, does often despise God's people.

That God has a special place for us in that first resurrection, in which we celebrate the trumpets. We'll be there when Satan's put away, when the millennium starts, when we reach those people.

And it is. Verse 6, Revelation 20 says, Blessed and holy is he in the first resurrection.

Second death has no power over us when we become part of God's family.

We rise as priests through God and reign with him a thousand years.

If this wasn't all true, it wouldn't be fair. But I assure you, it is true.

Everything God says is true. When his feast days all do that, Paul in Hebrews says it's written that every knee shall bow, quoting from Isaiah 45.23. Where God says, I've sworn to myself, and the word's gone out of my mouth. In righteousness it shall not return, but that to me every knee shall bow in every tongue. How can every knee bow if there's no resurrections?

People that are already dead can't bow unless they're resurrected.

What God offers us is special. He's offering life to every human being. Why he picks those of us now, the weak of the world, again, those with traumatic things usually and things that happen to us, all those who have lived and died from the days of Adam until Christ returned will come back up.

It's the only true reality. This life is actually virtual reality, even though we touch and feel and see, but the reality is in the future when Christ returns when it's really finished.

It's not finished with the millennium. Millennium is not the kingdom of God.

Millennium begins Christ's reign on earth, but it's not the kingdom. It's wonderful that Christ returns and rules and we have peace, but it's not the end. There's still another war at the end of that time. And the last great day is not the kingdom of God. It's when all mankind is resurrected and has a chance to learn and is judged. And with that judgment they get a chance to become part of the family of God, a world of spirit beings. The kingdom of God is that world of spirit beings, the family of God. There is no more flesh at that point. When this day closes and the last human is judged to eternal life or death, and there will be some, it seems, that will reject happiness.

And that's God's grace. That's God's mercy on someone who will not be happy. They simply die.

And that is mercy. But it's better to accept Christ and His sacrifice and God's way of life than to live forever in His kingdom.

Revelation 20. We'll go there. It talks about what we just went through in Revelation 21. It talks about the thousand years, binding Satan, the serpent. Revelation 24, I saw thrones, made the sat on them, judgment was given to them. Why do we learn in the books of the law now? Because judgment is given to us to judge others. And we have to judge the way Christ would judge.

And the statutes and laws in the millennium will be biblical laws.

And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, for the word of God, which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, nor in their hands, when they lived and reigned with Christ that thousand years.

But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished.

So our resurrection is the first one, and the rest of the dead come up when it's finished. The second resurrection.

Very clearly stated what God told Jesus, who told John, who wrote it down for us.

That's his plan. And then, of course, Satan's release at the end of that time period is a war, and then it's finally closed out. In verse 11 of chapter 20, I saw a great white throne.

And him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. The books were open, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. The sea gave up the dead which were in it. Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works. We're saved by grace, and we're judged by our works for what we do.

Because we love God and love, you can't have love without obedience. And I told my son, you know, you can say you love me all you want. If you go break windows, you're not telling me you love me. If you go do drugs, you're not telling me you love me. If you go do this, you can't come back and say, I love you, Dad. No. Obedience shows love, and we have to have the love of God. If you're cast in the lake of fire in verse 14, that's the second death. And that's the merciful thing for people who will not do as God, not be as he is in his son. Verse 15, whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. Our names are there unless we choose to throw it away. That book, that's the book I want to be in. We were in Exbury Gardens with the Rothschilds, an event that we had to go to, and Prince Charles and Diana were there. It was an all-day event, but at the end of the thing, when we were leaving, there was a book there. It was about four inches thick. I like an old Bible, but it was a guest book. And I went over and opened it to sign it. And it was all the kings and queens and dukes and earls for the last 700 years in that book. I thought, wow, that'd be a book to put in your pocket and take out. I'd worth some money. But being in that book doesn't mean anything. This book means it all. It means everything. That's the book that you want to be in and I want to be in. And there will be that last great day of judgment. It's called the eighth day of Leviticus, but we've been referred to as the last great day because it's all done when this is over. But even then, we learn the truth. We face judgment for Christ. We're rewarded.

All judgment is given to Christ. Christ said that God gave it to Him. But the plan doesn't just end right there. 1 Corinthians 15, 24. Actually, it's more of an ending. 1 Corinthians 15, 24. Then is the end. When He delivered the kingdom of God, even the Father. When He makes to cease all rule and all authority and all power. For it's right for Him to reign until He has put all the enemies under His feet. And the last enemy made to cease is death. Death and hell are cast in like a fire. For He put all things under His feet. And when He says all things have been put under His feet, it is plain that it accepts Him who has put all things under Him. But when all things are subject to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subject to Him who has subjected all things to Him so that God may be all in all. Christ says, I've finished our plan.

I've given it back to you, Father.

Revelation 21. To close out this. Revelation 21, verse 1.

I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer is. I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared us a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no mourning, no crying out. There will be no pain for the first things that have passed away, the things that you and I have gone through to be there.

And He's sitting on the throne, said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, Right, for these words are true and faithful. And He said to me, It's done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, to Him who thirsts. I will give the fountains of the water of life freely. He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be His God, and He will be my Son.

When this day is done, they will be no more death, no more pain, no more suffering.

God was afraid of little Lata Jean. He was afraid of her husband, Chuck, whose life he allowed to end early on for his plan. To her mother, Stella Dell, her father, Tuskehade, who she never met.

He's fair to me. He's fair to you. Whatever it is that you've gone through, I'm convinced the things that happen in our lives are not so random.

I think God probably knew a lot of us before we were born. He says that about Jeremiah. I knew you in the womb. I'm convinced that my wife, when her grandmother just came to the church, brought that envoy over to her family, which put her on a course to know God that her parents never accepted and didn't know anything about the days of Sabbath or anything. But God knew.

And I imagine when the resurrection comes that all my relatives on the dean's side will remember that crazy little Lata Jean and her crazy religion. They'll recognize that she wasn't so crazy after all.

No human suffering is something that tells us that we want something better.

Whatever that is that God has for us, no human who rejects that chance will live forever suffering.

That's God Mercy, a God of great love who knows what's best, who created life and created the only fair solution for mankind.

When I got asked on the plane on that Monday morning, we flew to Europe, Strommestan said, I want you to treat everyone that gets on this plane like a king or a queen, because their destiny is to be kings and priests and their opportunity to be sons of God.

And truly that is their potential.

He made me make a final promise to him before he died.

He was weak. He grabs my hand, he pulls it to him, and he says, promise me you'll be there to rise when Christ returns. You can rise with me.

I made that promise. Didn't necessarily know all the things that I'd go through since his death.

But you all made that promise when you made your commitment of baptism.

My friend in my menor wanted to be there, wanted all the people to be there.

He taught me to love everyone.

To throw away all jealousies, all resentment, all pettiness, all anger, all condemnation, those things we need to get out of our lives. Forgive us. Christ forgave.

Live as Christ lived. Serve as Christ serves. See trials through as Christ saw the trials he went through. And make that same promise to yourself that you'll rise to meet Christ when he returns. Be fair to yourself. I'd like to thank you for sharing this feast with my wife and I. It's been a pleasure to meet you and share with you. And we will see each other, some of you, yet in this life and some in the future. It's a special blessing that God has given us the truth, something that we don't have to be sad because we know the end of the story. And the end of the story is glorious.